Big Idea:
How do we select the best image for our purpose?

During the Cue Set, scholars re-visit the Portraits for Cue Set from yesterday. Today, they answer the following question:

*Which of the following images would inspire you to join the American side of the Revolutionary War? Why?

I remind them to consider tone, meaning and beauty as they make their choice. If the photograph is meant to inspire someone to go to war, which would be more inspiring? The idea here is that there isn't one right answer. As long as scholars can use evidence from the painting and strong logic and reasoning, either portrait might inspire African Americans to join. Also, scholars might consider what the text might say to accompany the portrait as this may have an impact on which portrait could be more convincing.

Scholars have 2 minutes to jot down their ideas, then they discuss with their table groups. Here, scholars complete the Cue set. Finally, I take 2 friends from my cup and three volunteers.

Resources (2)

Resources

During the Guided Practice, scholars prepare for Socratic Seminar. With their heterogenous partners, they respond to the following prompt:

*Imagine you are the editor for the Philadelphia Gazette (a Revolutionary War newspaper). You want to inspire more African American soldiers to fight in the war against the British.

*You are given these portraits as options to use in your next edition of your paper.

*Which image do you think would be best? Which would inspire more African Americans to join? Why? Support your response with evidence from the image.

Scholars organize their thinking using the Seminar Notes so that they are prepared for discussion. Scholars are placed in heterogeneous groups to prepare for seminar so that they have the experience with working with different people. Also, it provides additional support for learners. I always pair high scholars with medium high scholars and low scholars with medium low scholars so that no one is overly frustrated.

I circulate during this time and ask supportive questions such as, "Which painting do you think is best? Why? What evidence proves your thoughts?" My ELL co-teacher pulls a small group as well to prepare them to use English to articulate their thoughts during seminar.

Resources (2)

Resources

During the seminar today, there are two circles (one inside of another larger circle). Scholars who are participating in the discussion are in the inner circle. Scholars who are watching/listening and evaluating the discussion sit on the outside of the circle.

Scholars discuss the following question:

*Imagine you are the editor for the Philadelphia Gazette (a Revolutionary War newspaper). You want to inspire more African American soldiers to fight in the war against the British.

*You are given the images below as options to use in your next edition of your paper.

*Which image do you think would be best?

*Which would inspire more African Americans to join? Why? Support your response with evidence from the image.

Here is a sample from one seminar:

Scholars in the outer circle give an individual rating to their partner (person who has the same color post-it note on their desk) and an overall rating for the group. The rating is a simple 1 to 5. Five indicating everyone participates, discussion remains on topic, participants respectfully agree/disagree, discussion is interesting,and participants remain attentive. Here is the Rating Scale for Socratic Seminar.

We will do three discussions each lasting 10 minutes so that each group of scholars have an opportunity to discuss. As scholars discuss, they can continue to take notes on their note taking template. Completed note taking templates are a part of their checklist items for the week. Also, we will debrief each discussion for 2 minutes before we switch to the next one so that scholars can have on-the-spot feedback and so that the next group can possibly benefit from the feedback.